Tag Archives: Music

So, did you read my last post about making a playlist of Metallica songs so Bethany will be familiar with some of the music at the show? l grabbed a few tracks from each album, popped them into a list, & mixed ’em up a bit. It still seems a tad unwieldy. It’s 47 songs, and I don’t even want to know what the run time would be. (I still need to dig out all of my CD’s & rip some of these older songs. I live in the stone age and listen to mp3’s saved to a thumb drive plugged into the car.)

How would you pare it down? Could you get it to 30 songs? 10 songs? 60 minutes? What is the most essential stuff you’d need to grasp their overall sound and/or appreciate a live show?

I had Alexa playing some random Metallica this morning, and it wasn’t a bad mix. This actually really has me appreciating Death Magnetic & Hardwired… To Self-Destruct more & more.

Metallica 101 Playlist…

“Ecstasy of Gold” (We All Love Ennio Morricone) [Ennio Morricone]

“Enter Sandman” (Metallica)

“One” (…And Justice for All)

“For Whom the Bell Tolls” (Ride the Lightning)

“Whiskey in the Jar” (Garage, Inc.) [Thin Lizzy]

“(Anesthesia)—Pulling Teeth” (Kill ‘Em All)

“Whiplash” (Kill ‘Em All)

“Last Caress” (Live Shit: Binge & Purge) [Misfits]

“Master of Puppets” (Master of Puppets)

“Cyanide” (Death Magnetic)

“The Call of Ktulu” (S&M)

“Nothing Else Matters” (Metallica)

“Seek And Destroy” (Live Shit: Binge & Purge)

“Some Kind of Monster” (St. Anger)

“Fade To Black” (Ride the Lightning)

“Overkill” (Garage, Inc.) [Motörhead]

“Hardwired” (Hardwired… To Self-Destruct)

“The Memory Remains” (Through The Never)

“Four Horsemen” (Kill ‘Em All)

“Creeping Death” (Live Shit: Binge & Purge)

“Until It Sleeps” (S&M)

“Altas, Rise!” (Hardwired… To Self-Destruct)

“Battery” (Master of Puppets)

“Die, Die My Darling” (Garage, Inc.) [Misfits]

“Frantic” (St. Anger)

“Fuel” (Re-Load)

“Orion” (Through the Never)

“Unforgiven” (Metallica)

“Unforgiven II” (Re-Load)

“Unforgiven III” (Death Magnetic)

“Sad But True” (Live Shit: Binge & Purge)

“I Disappear” (Mission: Impossible 2 Soundtrack)

“All Nightmare Long” (Death Magnetic)

“Mama Said” (Load)

“Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” (Master of Puppets)

“Commando” (St. Anger Single) [Ramones]

“Now That We’re Dead” (Hardwired… To Self-Destruct)

“Stone Cold Crazy” (Garage, Inc.) [Queen]

“Wherever I May Roam” (S&M)

“The Day That Never Comes” (Death Magnetic)

“Tuesday’s Gone” (Garage, Inc.) [Lynyrd Skynyrd]

“Disposable Heroes” (Master of Puppets)

“Blackened” (…And Justice for All)

“St. Anger” (St. Anger)

“Low Man’s Lyric” (Re-Load)

“Harvester of Sorrow” (…And Justice for All)

“One” (S&M)

Would you skip songs & go to videos, live sets or clips, or documentaries?

Like this:

Did you see part 1? I quickly realized I like a vast odd selection of Christmas music. There are so many I dig that didn’t make the cut, and I’m sure ones I forgot. Throw me your favorites in the comments!

Like this:

I have been trying to post a Christmas song per day since the beginning of December. I think I make a new YouTube playlist every year. (I must have set YouTube to tweet when I add videos to playlists way back… because it seems to be doing that with the stuff I’m adding.)

I enjoy some Christmas albums, but seem to have found a bunch of random songs that I like over the years. Some traditional, some quite the opposite. Here’s the first batch. There is no rhyme or reason or favorite order or anything.

Post some of your favorite Winter Holiday songs in the comments. Links to videos, album names, artists, etc. Show me what you dig!

Like this:

The song “Degenerated” from the movie Airheads is one of my all-time favorites. If you’re a fan of the movie, you no-doubt know the song. And if you’re a music nerd in general, you probably know that it’s a Reagan Youth cover. I would love to know more about the song. I have collected most of the “who,” but I would love to know the “why.”

Check out the two songs and then we’ll get into why I have so many questions & what they are.

OK, here are the players involved from the information that I gathered on Wikipedia, IMDB, Discogs, & wherever else I clicked;

Jay Yuenger and Sean Yseult of White Zombie fame played on the recording of the song, with Brendan Fraser on vocals. (Seriously, that bass part so damn awesome, & the guitar solo is blistering. Sean & Jay both really rocked it.)

Who decided to use the song? The director, the music guy, the writer, the musicians?

Why that song? The running joke about Chazz writing the song for his girlfriend or before he met her makes it even funnier because I wouldn’t remotely call it a love song. Did someone just really like the song? Was licensing cheap all around? Did they ask Paul Cripple for permission? What does he think of the song? Did Dave Insurgent ever get to hear it?

Why metal up a punk rock song? They seemed like an 80’s holdover kind of band. Was it a statement on Grunge being a punk n’ metal hybrid?

Why are there different chord changes? The chord progression is different, but the melody (and I use the term loosely) is the same. The cover may be tuned below standard if I remember correctly? Someone more musically versed may be able to explain the difference I just know when playing by ear on guitar they’re totally different progressions.

Why the lyric change?( I assume to keep the movie rated PG-13?) Most notably a removal of the F-word and references to constipation (Lone Rangers Lyrics/Reagan Youth Lyrics). Who made the changes?

Who played drums? Jay, Sean, Bryan, or were there other uncredited musicians?

I just really dig both versions of the song, the movie, and that it led me to checking out more Reagan Youth. Is it weird to be a fan of a song by a fictional band? Hey, I dig “Three Small Words” too, and that was produced by Babyface.

Do you like either version of this song? Do you have a song by a fictional band that you really dig? Do you know any of the relevant information here? Let me know in the comments!

Like this:

So, recently turning 40 has me reflecting on life in general (which is pretty damn great) & on my accomplishments as a “musician” even though I’m not actively gigging right now.

I’m pretty self-deprecating of my musical talents, but I am proud of the major part of the aural art that I helped create. I compiled and uploaded a few of my favorites after using Audacity to clip out some silence and mp3Gain to try to get all the volume levels somewhat similar.

If you’ll indulge me I’d like to give my thoughts & memories on each of these songs that I was proud to be a part of with AiXeLsyD, Gasoline Dion, & Ernie and the Berts. If I have any of the stories, names, etc. wrong, please correct me in the comments. Being that these are punk rock(ish) bands, you may find the content explicit and/or objectionable. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

🎸

Gasoline Dion – “Shameless Plug”

[SoundCloud/YouTube] | Tommy came up with this cool shuffling progression and I played a super easy solo over it. I believe we kept the first take of the solo even though at the time I thought I could do better. It’s not perfect, but it’s fun. It was cool to open shows with this then rip into something completely different. It was called “Tommy’s Jam” until an inside joke on a local message board inspired the new name.

AiXeLsyD – “Wait”

[SoundCloud/YouTube] | Probably the first song that I wrote that I liked, and probably the first original that we worked on in the band. We dug on this & recorded it a million times. It morphed a bit, but was basically the same simple jam. Ben doubling the vocals an octave lower and the guitar part at the end really fills it out.

Gasoline Dion – “Pickle Farm”

[SoundCloud/YouTube] | Tommy had recorded this song solo, and it contributed to the itch that I needed to scratch when we formed Gasoline Dion. I really liked the melody. I think he stole the lyrics from Space Ghost or Brak. This song to me is about not being a square peg that’s forced into a round hole. I liked singing background vocals & playing guitar.

Ernie and the Berts – “Toybox”

[SoundCloud/YouTube] | Erin wanted to start a band to play rocked-out Willy Wonka covers. That never happened. This did. It was the first original that stuck, and an early recording became the soundtrack to a friend’s video project. Dave learned to play drums in/for this band. This is a nice simple driving groove and is the perfect vehicle for the introduction of Erin’s gnarly gravelly voice.

AiXeLsyD – “Hopeless & Heartless”

[SoundCloud/YouTube] | I wrote this on the outside of seeing someone with a broken heart. I thought it was pretty catchy. The “whoa-oh’s” are overkill but oddly necessary in my humble opinion. I think An-Die, Ben, & I are all singing on multiple tracks here.

Gasoline Dion – “Cold”

[SoundCloud/YouTube] | This riff was a leftover AiXeLsyD riff that almost became part of two songs but never really went anywhere. Mike had some leftover Who’s.Keeping.Score? lyrics that Dave & I re-arranged. Dave & I work really well on arranging musical parts & lyrics. I really really dig Tommy & I singing together on this one.

Ernie and the Berts – “Fred Rogers”

[SoundCloud/YouTube] | Erin supposed that a local hero may not really be a hero on this one. Maybe he read that weird urban legend. I really like the guitar part here, although it’s missing some kind of effect in my head. Wah? Phaser? Not sure. Erin let me just go goofy with background vocals here. I felt like Danzig or that Not-Danzig guy in the Cult. I love how this song builds into chaos.

AiXeLsyD – “Stand Up”

[SoundCloud/YouTube] | This is where it all pulled together, and it was the last proper thing we recorded. Ha ha. An-Die wrote the riff & lyrics, I arranged them. Ben came up with the guitar noodling& octaves riff. I think I came up with the stupid guitar part for the verse. I really dig my guitar solo here,even though I went too long. (Oddly, this sounds a lot like “Anything, Anything (I’ll Give You)” by Dramarama as played by Buckcherry.)

Gasoline Dion – “Political Songs (With Deep Meaning)”

[SoundCloud/YouTube] | I was listening to a lot of the Unseen, I think. I don’t really write political stuff that often. This was taking the piss out of that genre. Dave sounded better on it with vocals. I scream “feet” in the background and give the creepy laugh at the end. We lost the original lyrics, so Dave used what he remembered and made the rest up on the fly. I don’t really think any one ever tried to intemperate a deeper meaning. If they did, they didn’t tell us.

Ernie and the Berts – “Don’t Fuck With Ernie”

[SoundCloud/YouTube] | It was hard to tell if Erin was serious or joking a lot of the time. He had a deadpan delivery, and it was hilarious. To deliver this ridiculousness so seriously is hilarious to me. I think I sort of came up with this riff over top of his bass line.

AiXeLsyD – “Dave Ugly’s Girlfriend”

[SoundCloud/YouTube] | It’s “Dave Ugly’s Girlfriend”, not “Dave’s Ugly Girlfriend.” People always seemed to get that wrong. Dave Ugly played bass & sang for one of our favorite local bands, Useless Torment. I don’t tell the story as well as An-Die, but Dave was apparently saying he loved him, and An-Die was playing the “even if…” game, and arrived at this. I remember being “mad” when Sum 41 came out as a punk band rapping. I think Boner played guitar on this one and Ben played Drums?

Gasoline Dion – “Bitch Pants Opera”

[SoundCloud/YouTube] | I don’t know if we could do this one today. People seem so easily offended. It’s just a joke. We don’t really care if you wear girl pants. We’re not insinuating or implying anything. We look ridiculous too. Another Dave vocals song, I am screaming the high parts. All of us are in the beginning. I think the breakdown was inspired by hardcore /screamo kids in skinny jeans doing the windmill and Peelander-Z’s “S.T.E.A.K.”

Ernie and the Berts – “Ikea”

[SoundCloud/YouTube] | Dave suggested I try a little more dynamics with space and clean. Dave is usually right. You can do a lot with the same 3 chords over & over. This was a slice of Erin’s life, full of his observations. We almost got permission to go in & shoot a video there. Somebody must have really listened to the lyrics. He had “nicer” ones prepared just in case we needed to sell out.

AiXeLsyD – “Love, Hopes, Dreams, & Smiles”

[SoundCloud/YouTube] |I think An-Die hated this one. I liked the noodling& the melody. The lyrics are super dumb & trite. The song was made infinitely cooler when Ben put in that volume swell in the final mix. That was never there, then we started doing it live after he did that to the recording. This could probably be punched-up a little bit more.

Gasoline Dion – “Two of a Kind”

[SoundCloud/YouTube] | Tommy sings like an angel. I have no idea what in the hell he’s talking about here. I think Dave & Mike made this honky-tonk-ish. I played a little solo under Tommy’s vocals at the end because nobody ever told me not to. The end sounds like the Misfits’ “NY Ranger.”

Gasoline Dion – “Shameless Plug (Reprise)”

[SoundCloud/YouTube] | Same thing as the first track, second solo take by me with a wah pedal this time. Dave is also on guitar making crazy noises and soloing in between all of my notes. Ha ha. If you don’t “get” the speaking part, watch the Josie and the Pussycats movie some time.

I’d love to know what you think, or to read/see/hear your own memories about these bands or in any bands or projects in which you have participated. Did I miss a song or two that you may have remembered or liked? Comments (or likes or whatever is deemed social-media-appropriate) on the songs on SoundCloud or YouTube would be awesome and greatly appreciated, too.

Comments aren’t available on the CBS Local article for some reason, but please share your ways of discovering new music here, or share a link to the main article on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, or whatever to start your own discussion amongst your friends and peers.

Most importantly, the take-away is that I may now be considered an expert for all of your musical discovery needs.